What do you do with excess roosters?

[abpatchy]

Whenever I can, I sell them. I place adds on the internet. Here in German it is very hard to sell roosters. But I don't sell for the buyer to butcher. I'd prefer to butcher myself. They had a good life, good feed. In nature the strong ones would chase away or kill the weaker ones. Preditors would kill and eat them. There is a natural selection. I am that natural selection. They don't have to get shipped to get butchered... they don't even know what hit them it all happens so fast.

 

[Peep_Show]

I have one roo to my eight hens and that seems to work. I incubate and hatch, so -- yeah -- lots of roo chicks.

I donate the boy-boys to the local raptor rescue, which frees up their $$ for them to spend on vet services and community outreach. If you haven't a nearby one, consider contacting your local zoo. Reuse, repurpose, recycle.

 

[ackie]

Whenever I can, I sell them. I place adds on the internet. Here in German it is very hard to sell roosters. But I don't sell for the buyer to butcher. I'd prefer to butcher myself. They had a good life, good feed. In nature the strong ones would chase away or kill the weaker ones. Preditors would kill and eat them. There is a natural selection. I am that natural selection. They don't have to get shipped to get butchered... they don't even know what hit them it all happens so fast.

I assume selling freshly butchered roosters (especially if you clean them) is way easier than selling live ones.

 

[NatJ]

I assume selling freshly butchered roosters (especially if you clean them) is way easier than selling live ones.

Check your local rules before you try that.

In many areas of the US, you are allowed to sell live chickens, but there are lots of extra rules to follow if you want to legally sell dead/butchered ones.

 

[ariri30]

We try to re-home, then freezer camp it is for the ones left over. As mentioned already, as soon as you notice they’re a roo then be careful not to get too attached. I’ve found the roo ratio depends a lot on the breed. We survived a winter/spring with 2 Roos and 3 hens our first year, but the Roos were super docile Cochins and this would likely not work out in 99.9% of cases. We now have a much much better ratio though

I get attached by just looking at them. I want to learn not to care and just cull. I have done it but oh boy it’s not easy. I let my broody hatch chicks with the idea of culling but I end up giving them away because I can’t do it or eat them

 

[Ratbird]

I eat them, once they are no longer tiny fluffballs.

What age and weight depends a lot on how they are acting:
If they are annoying me with too many crowing at once, or if they're all pestering the pullets, or if the pen just seems too crowded, I will butcher them sooner.

If everything is going fine, and I just don't feel like deciding yet, I will butcher them later.

I prefer to butcher some of the obvious not-keepers sooner, and wait until later to make final decisions about the last few.

My obvious not-keepers would include any that I consider ugly, any that have physical problems (crossed beak, wrong number of toes, things like that), any that bite me or attack me, any that regularly get out of the pen, any that are so submissive that they don't get enough to eat, any that otherwise need special attention.

If I pick each male up to look at him, and if several tolerate it calmly while one panics and struggles wildly, the panicky one will probably get butchered.

You have it exactly!!!

 

[corriemartin]

We were planning on eating our excess roosters, but when a rogue neighborhood dog attacked, they were killed by the dog. So now we just have hens.

I can't see spending money on feed for excess roosters. We'll want one next year so that the girls could make chicks, but otherwise, it's pretty darned peaceful around here.

 

[MykaMom]

I try very hard to buy sexed chicks so I don't have this happen. Unfortunately, it still happens.

I can't do freezer camp. I just cannot do it: I'd have to be on a survival footing, then MAYBE I would. Most likely I'd end up vegetarian!

 

[Chickassan]

I replace peoples bad roosters.

 

[LordEvan5]

I have had these precious little fluff balls for a week now and already feel really attached. We ordered 15 unsexed, so chances are well have a fair amount of roos. We were planning to cull the extras to eat, but I don't know now.....

What do you all do with extra roos? What is a good roo to hen ratio? View attachment 2398257View attachment 2398257

ATM I have two Roos one polish and on sapphire gem they crow constantly they are on thin ice but I enjoy their company the polish is hyper aggressive but small and the sapphire escapes constantly I’m finding them a home as I got too attached and am going to imagine they are going to live on a farm with endless amounts of hen to pester in my opinion if you can get away without them it’s most likely better especially if your kinda semi country suburb area like mine where neighbors may not be able to see into the yard but can here the dueling Roos at dawn